THE MIDWAY CAFE

The Midway Cafe is a dive bar and live music venue at 3496 Washington St in Jamaica Plain. The club books an eclectic range of genres nightly and has been compared to New York's Knitting Factory for its mix of styles and crowds.

Expect punk, reggae, rock, folk, DJ nights, benefits, movie screenings, and the venue's famous Queeraoke every Thursday — one of the longest-running queer nights in New England, operating since 1999 (rebranded in 2003). The room is small and unpretentious.

The Midway has presented live music since 1987. The venue's fortunes turned around 1988 when the elevated train tracks in Jamaica Plain came down and foot traffic increased. It has remained a neighborhood institution and independent music hub for nearly four decades.